Rolling Stones plan to release new album this year

The Rolling Stones are planning to release a new album, possibly this year, guitarist Ronnie Wood said Monday. The British rockers last released a studio album in 2005, but Wood said they have been in the studio and recorded some new material and some blues covers.

“We went in to cut some new songs, which we did,” the 68-year-old Wood said. “But we got on a blues streak. We cut 11 blues in two days.

“They are extremely great cover versions of Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walter, among other blues people. But they really sound authentic.”

When asked when the new material would be released, Wood said only: “This year.”

“When we heard them back after not hearing them for a couple of months, we were, ‘Who’s that? It’s you,'” Wood said. “It sounded so authentic.”

The Rolling Stones, which started as a blues band in 1962, just wrapped a tour of Latin America with a free show in Cuba on March 25. The band then headed to London for Monday’s opening of “Exhibitionism,” a vast exhibition of the group’s history at the Saatchi Gallery.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Wood arrived together at the gallery, but Richards wouldn’t go into any detail on the recent recording sessions.

“There’s one coming,” the 72-year-old guitarist said of a new album. “I can’t say no more. My lips are sealed.”

The Stones have released 22 studio albums in Britain and 24 in the United States. “A Bigger Bang” was the last, and the band toured the album in 2005, ’06 and ’07.

They resumed touring in 2012 to mark the band’s 50th anniversary, but have only released a couple of new songs since then. “We’re a working band,” Wood said. “We’ll be working again before the end of the year.”